The Game

In the front of the paperback i picked up of Gregory Benford's Across the Sea of Suns is a map of the local star system, & one near the bottom says "Epsilon Ludi"--which is not a real star or constellation. In that place, i realized, the star epsilon Indi must have originally been marked, perhaps imperfectly legibly, hence the alteration of the three upward strokes (one tall, two short) into what, coincidentally, does make an actual Latin genitive: the pseudo-constellation of The Game. This is like a ghost word, but even more, it reminded me--instantly--of a name mystery i once solved: that of Uuchathon, also a matter of verticals saved but horizontals transposed. (It should be Michathon.) --That grimoire, alas, i have just had to sell.

There are places that only existed on maps for a short while (Tannu Touva, 1921-1944), & exoplanets that turned out to be duds (Lalande 21185 b, 1951-1974). I place these with the 60 to 80 lost plays of Aeschylus. And perhaps, now Issue 1 (i have a copy on my hard drive.) "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" They are all gone, gone to epsilon Ludi.